1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a timepiece faceplate and an electrical timepiece equipped with a solar battery.
2. Background Technology
Timepiece faceplates require not only practicality such as visibility but also decorative aspects (an aesthetic appearance). A processed metal plate and a base plate mad by plastic on which a coating, a metal-plating, or the like was applied have been used as the timepiece faceplates. Also, the timepiece faceplates having more excellent aesthetic appearance, which cannot be obtained by only the metal plate or the metal-plating, are desired.
On the other hand, electrical timepieces equipped with a solar battery receive increased recognition from the viewpoints of the easiness of maintenance and the natural resources saving. The timepiece faceplates used for the timepieces equipped with a solar battery require light permeability so that adequate amount of light is transmissive to generate enough electromotive force for the solar battery arranged in a bottom side of the timepiece faceplate. Because of this, light permeable materials such as a plastic, a ceramic, a glass, and the like have been used for this intended purpose of the timepiece faceplates. However, the light permeable materials described above generally lack a sense of luxury and are less aesthetic appearance compare to metallic materials such as gold, silver, and the like.
As a technique by using the light permeable materials that the timepiece faceplates have excellent appearance with a sense of gloss, the compositions including powder and a hardening resin are applied to the surface of the faceplate main body by a screen printing, and a hardened part is formed by hardening the hardening resin. It is well known that the timepiece faceplates use this as an index (see Patent Document 1 as an example). The powder in Patent Document 1 is provided with a metal film configured by the metal materials on both sides of the base part, and it is obtained by forming the metal film on the both surfaces of the sheet material, which is made by the plastic, by a vapor phase deposition method, and after that, cutting it in a size becoming an average grain diameter of 100 to 155 μm. By the way, the index has a function indicating time and there are various marks such as characters, numbers (that is, time characters), scales, codes, and the like.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-54303 (Patent Document 1) is an example of the related art.